The Moonlight Led To The Sun
by Anoron
Summary: Songic, 'She's Like the Wind'- Buffy and Angel's break up at the end of Graduation, part 2 in Season 3 of Buffy.


I do not own the characters Buffy and Angel- Joss Whedon does. "She's Like The Wind' is by Patrick Swayze, so obviously I don't own that either. Don't sue me, I have nothing of value anyway! Song lyrics appear between //. . . // Takes place in the final few moments of Graduation, part 2, when Angel is leaving Buffy once and for all. Also includes a flashback to the season 2 episode, Surprise.  
  
THE MOONLIGHT LED TO THE SUN  
  
// She's like the wind through my tree  
  
She rides at night next to me  
  
She leads me to moonlight  
  
Only to burn me with the sun  
  
She's taken my heart  
  
She doesn't know what she's done //  
  
The smoke swirled around them like a shrouding veil. Angel stared at Buffy hard, as if he was committing every single detail of her face to his memory. As if he could ever forget.  
  
Buffy froze under the piercing gaze of her once-lover, caught like a deer in headlights.  
  
// I feel her breath on my face  
  
Her body close to me  
  
Can't look in her eyes  
  
She's outta my league  
  
Just a fool to believe I have anything she needs  
  
She's like the wind //  
  
FLASHBACK *****  
They were sitting on his bed. Buffy had her back turned to him, her wet top clutched to her chest in an endearing display of modesty as he examined a cut on her back.  
  
He slid the strap of her camisole down over her shoulder to better see. "It's already closed. You're fine," he told her, unsure as to whether he was trying to convince her or himself.  
  
Buffy shivered involuntarily as she felt Angel's strong hand sliding the strap of her camisole just a little further down her shoulder, baring her skin just a little more than necessary. She turned towards him, leaning against his broad chest for support.  
  
She sniffled at his neck, trying to breathe him in. "You almost went away today."  
  
"We both did," Angel remembered, feeling a pang at the thought of losing Buffy.  
  
Buffy was trying to stutter out words, suddenly terrified that if she didn't tell Angel what she was feeling now, she wouldn't get another chance. She sniffled again, no longer sure of whether there were just raindrops streaking down her cheeks, or if tears had mingled with them.  
  
"Angel," she almost moaned the name. "I feel like... If I lost you... I feel like," she tried again. "We can't be sure of anything."  
  
"Shh, I..." Angel soothed, then began to say the words before he even knew what he was doing. Suddenly very aware of himself, and the tiny, innocent body pressed against his, he trailed off.  
  
"You what?" Buffy asked, already knowing the answer deep down.  
  
"I love you."  
  
Although she knew it, Buffy's eyes still widened, luminous orbs glistening with wonder at the very concept. Angel loved her.  
  
"I try not to but I can't stop." With his confession, a few stray tears had escaped down Angel's cheeks and his voice was hoarse as he choked through his emotions.  
  
"Me too, I can't either," Buffy responded a split second before their lips met. Feelings so strong that they seared ran through their bodies as the kiss deepened, and both knew it was the start of something entirely new, something neither of them had known before. Love.  
  
"Buffy, maybe we shouldn't-" Angel moaned, as if he was trying to give her a chance to back out of anything too much for her to handle tonight. But the truth was, he himself was scared, half hoping for an escape from the feelings that seemed to consume him, they made him forget who he was, everything he'd done.  
  
"Don't," Buffy cut him off, suddenly more sure of this than anything in the world. "Just kiss me."  
  
Angle laid down in Buffy's arms and let go of everything that had ever hurt him, everything that wasn't the tiny, beautiful body pulsating beneath his. ***** END FLASHBACK  
  
// I look in the mirror and all I see  
  
Is a young old man with only a dream  
  
Am I just fooling myself I can't stop the pain  
  
Living without her I'd go insane //  
  
Angel forced his feet to move. Every feeling in his dead heart screamed for him to run to Buffy, to wrap her tiny frame in his strong, cold arms and swear he would never let her go. But he knew he couldn't. He could never give Buffy the life and love she so deserved, which he knew she would one day need, much as she denied it now.  
  
Angel walked away from Buffy, catching sight of her one last time as he turned his back.  
  
She stood apart from the crowds milling around, as always, but now an overwhelming sense of vulnerability emanated from Buffy, drowning out the strength he was so accustomed to seeing shine from within her.  
  
// I feel her breath on my face  
  
Her body close to me  
  
Can't look in her eyes  
  
She's outta my league  
  
Just a fool to believe I have anything she needs  
  
She's like the wind //  
  
As she watched Angel turn away from her, Buffy's mouth opened the tiniest bit of its own accord as if to speak, to call out and scream for him to come back to her, that she needed him here even if she knew she could never have him, not completely.  
  
Not completely. Those two words caused Buffy to close her mouth, her lips forming a slight pout against the tears that welled up in her eyes, defying her promise to herself that she wouldn't cry over him. Not again. Not anymore. He wasn't hers to cry over.  
  
Bitterly, Buffy wondered if he had ever belonged to her as completely as she had belonged to him. She could barely make out the broad shoulders, clothed in black that were fast disappearing into the mist, into the unknown.  
  
// I feel your breath on my face  
  
Your body close to me  
  
Can't look in your eyes  
  
You're outta my league  
  
Just a fool to believe..... //  
  
She watched as the last traces of Angel were swallowed up in the grey wisps, squeezing her eyes shut tight a moment against the void that was left in his place, the void that filled her both outside and within. Then she squared her shoulders threw her head back. All traces of tears and vulnerability were gone. She was Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and she was going to survive. She always did.  
  
Buffy turned away from the direction Angel had gone into his unknown and took a step into her own unknown. Her future.  
  
Finis' ~Anoron 


End file.
